where romney trailed the president by double digits only one month ago. romney celebrating his momentum in rain soaked virginia. >> people wonder why it is i'm so confident we're going to win. i'm confident because i see you here on a day like this. this is unbelievable. >> president obama in san francisco last night sounded a new urgency, trying to get people to vote. >> i need you in this election. the next 29 days. we cannot afford to be complacent and we cannot afford to be sitting. >> buckeye battleground, obama and romney both in ohio tonight. the state that matters most to republicans. first, romney kicks off the day at a family farm in iowa where he will be speaking minutes from now. and the battle over big bird, the president turns his attack into a punch line and a commercial, as sesame workshop

and senator john mccain cried foul over the obama campaign's new bird ad. >> elmo is -- has been seen in a white suburban he's driving for the border. oscar is hide out in his trash can. we're cracking down on them. governor romney's plan is to let wall street run wild again but he's going to bring the hammer down on sesame street. >> one thing that president obama can't run on is his record, and so big bird, i guess, is a fun thing to talk about. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama and mitt romney are heading back to ohio today in a very different situation than the last time they campaigned in the battleground state. the new pew poll know shows governor romney ahead among

likely voters. it's the latest dose of reality for the obama camp in a race that is evolving with only weeks left until election day. joining me for our daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing editor o of postpolitics.com and mark halperin for "time" and msnbc. joining us from chicago. chris cizilla, first of all to you, the new polls certainly have given a great burst of energy to mitt romney's campaign. >> no question. i would say and we said this when there was polling that had president obama up eight, nine, ten points nationally, let's see where it sorts out at the end of the week or beginning of next week. if you are mitt romney, this is -- the pew poll yesterday was huge news because a lot of what happens here at the end and we are 28 days away, is momentum based. for folks who haven't made their mind up yet you want to look like you're the guy with the momentum. coming off the debate and the pew poll you now can make the case that mitt romney is the guy who is kind of the energy and

enthusiasm candidate. i think some polls will come out in places like ohio, virginia, north carolina, florida, hopefully some independent polls in the next few days that i think will get the measure of how much bounce mitt romney got. if those polls suggest him really closing the margin in those states then i think the romney campaign is really on to something. national polling is great and they're happy to have it, but really the problem they have had in the last six weeks, two months, is electoral vote in the swing states. they need those numbers to move. >> and we are going to have our nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist polls in florida, ohio, and virginia coming out first thing thursday morning. mark you're in chicago, which tells me you've probably been doing a lot of reporting. what are they saying at the obama headquarters? >> well, andrea, i came straight here from the headquarters where i sat down with some of the top officials on the campaign and talked through where we are today. and i want to state this carefully, and factually, they said in a response to direct

question, they feel just as good about where they are today as they did two weeks ago. they said while there is clearly public polling that shows some change they don't see any fundamental change in the race whatsoever in the battleground states they have a bigger gender gap than nationally, in the battleground state they've won the voter registration war state by state and still feel while they know the president's debate performance wasn't what they wanted it to be, they still feel very much in control. it will be tight, not taking it for granted but if you took them at face value they say no meaningful change based on the results of the debate. >> you mentioned the gender gap and one of the polls, i guess the pew poll, showed a huge swing in the gender, dead even among women. that would be a big change indeed. do you think that's an outlier? >> well, that's a bit of a role reversal. you have democrats doing things like picking out things like the pew poll to show the change in voter preference as well as the

elimination of the gender gap with women and they say that just can't be true. clearly the totality of the public polls suggest both in the few battleground states we have so far in advantage of the nbc/marist polls and national polls there seems to be an impact on the race. what they're saying is they're never forth physical comicoming their data shows, but the national polls are showing a change. it's not that much, not determinative and it's not something that's going to sustain. they believe the arguments they're making the things that gave them a structural and message advantage before they say they still have. >> now, what about the whole battle over big bird? chris cizilla, this is the commercial that the obama campaign began airing. it's on cable, not a battleground state buy. it doesn't have a real impact on as many voters in the critical states. but, they've cried foul as we

say. ses mame workshop as -- >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> bernie madoff, ken lay, dennis kozlowski, glutens of greed and the evil genius who towered over them, one man has the guts to say his name. >> big bird. >> big, yellow, a menace to our economy, mitt romney knows it's not wall street you have to worry about, it's sesame street. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. >> mitt romney taking on our enemies no matter where they nest. >> now it's funny. >> politics. >> when talking about sesame street and not taxes, you know, foreign policy or, you know, what to do about the fiscal cliff, what kind of a campaign is that? >> well, this is -- so the gamut here, you mentioned, this is on cable tv nationally in some broadcast tv nationally and not in any swing state. if the obama campaign spent

$100,000 on this ad buy, i would be surprised. they certainly don't have any real money behind it. this is meant to be a talker in the media and to send to their base and say see, mitt romney, he's being ridiculous. the danger when you do things like this, this close to an election is to your point, i got lots of republicans sending me the famous barack obama quote from 2008 about john mccain that he can't talk about big things in this election so he's trying to make it about small things. i don't think barack obama is trying to make this election about big bird. this seems a targeted strategy at a small group of people. at the same time it certainly opens them up to the, you know, look, we have serious problems in this country, barack obama has said that many times, why with 28 days before the election an ad running anywhere that basically is a sa tearcle add that usually would be a web video run six months ago. >> well, why could be to try to trivallize something that mitt romney did during the debate and contrast to all the good things that mitt romney has been judged

to have done in the debate. mark, you wanted to get in but i wanted to ask you about the daily tracking poll because the gallup poll comes out at 1:00, for the first time today tracking likely and registered voters. yesterday, their registered voter had a five-point spread. today it's 49/46 among registered voters with obama in the lead. but it's 49/47 among likely voters. mark, what's your take on gallup and these tracking polls which are, you know, seven-day running track? >> quickly on the ad, what the campaign just told me is that they think this has got currency away from msnbc and away from serious discussions of issues but in entertainment television, in comedy television. that's where some of the buy is going to be. they're trying to tap into the social media and the buzz about the big bird thing. the one thing i should have said this originally, the one thing they were willing to concede that came out of the debate helpful to governor romney his base is enthused. looking at the totality of the

polling one of the concerns you to have if you're a democrat is the enthusiasm gap has shifted more towards the republicans and concede that governor romney's debate performance makes him more -- generate more enthusiasm among the base. he has done better in polling and as all the polling shifts towards a screen that goes for likely rather than registered i suspect that will cause a further narrowing of the gap. we'll see if the same is true in the battleground states where the democrats claim they're overperforming what you're seeing at the national level. >> mark halperin, the news from chicago, thank you very much. straight from headquarters. and chris cizilla, as always, see you later. joining me to discuss governor romney's strategy one of his top advisors, been with him the longest, eric fehrnstrom joining me from boston. good to see you, eric. >> thank you. >> talk about first of all, the polls. your take on the polls?

you've now pushed ahead certainly in pew. >> well, look, our view is it's going to be a close contest up until november 6th. a view that's shared by the obama campaign. i know that a week ago, when polls were showing a different result, we were being questioned about the state of the race and our advice was to simply caution everybody to be patient, that there's going to be a lot of ups and downs in this campaign, but it's going to be tight right until the end and we believe that to be the case and i believe the president and his campaign share that view. >> the governor is going to be in ohio tonight. what is your sense now about ohio and whether you have a chance at ohio, which is so important? no republican has won the presidency without winning ohio. >> ohio is in play. it's an important battleground state. the politics of that state are almost evenly divided between republicans and democrats.

we believe we have an enthusiasm edge, strong surrogates who will be working on our behalf there, not only home state senator like rob portman but the governor will be with governor christie talking about manufacturing jobs and energy in ohio tomorrow. so, we look forward to that contest. we feel it's going to be close. again, until the end. but we feel that we have an enthusiasm edge working in our favor. >> are you going to do anything differently in the next debate? what is your strategy in terms of debate preparation or is he already proved to your satisfaction he doesn't need a whole lot of additional preparation for the next debate? >> well, you know, i've heard a lot of discussion in the wake of last week's debate and about the president's poor performance but our view is that the reason the president did so poorly, not because of the altitude, not because of the moderator, not because john kerry was a bad stand-in for governor romney in their mock sessions, the reason he performed so poorly is

because he doesn't have the facts or issues on his side. it wasn't just a bad debate night. it's been a bad four years for president obama. but the next debate is not going to be a presidential debate. it will be a vice presidential debate and the pressure is on joe biden to live up to his reputation this week as a policy expert and as a skilled debater, but i expect he'll do just fine. this will be his 18th either presidential or vice presidential debate. he's had a lot of practice at it. paul ryan's first. but again, in that case, we think we have the facts and the issues on our side with the obama/biden team you'll get another four years like the last four years with the romney/ryan team, a real recovery with more jobs for everybody. >> now politico is reporting today that ann romney and tagg his son, one of his sons did an intervention to try to save the campaign if you will and let mitt be mitt and get the

candidate to talk more about himself, talk more emotionally to give the foreign policy speech. in pushing back against some of the staff. can you help us out on that? what is the -- your perspective about it? >> i saw the story. it's a silly little story. there's no truth to it. we're focused on big things. yesterday the governor gave a speech where he talked about some of the very real foreign policy challenges facing us. he talked about building 15 ships a year so we can build up our navy. he talked about the importance of reforming our foreign assistance and linking it to positive outcomes. he talked about stopping iran's reckless pursuit for a nuclear weapon. these are the issues and the challenges that we're focused on. we're not distracted by some of the nonsense stories that come around. >> right now, we're seeing the governor is about to -- already speaking in iowa. obviously another important battleground state for you guys.

but, has there been a shift in strategy? we've seen him in the last couple days talking more personally, telling some of the stories that surrogates tried to tell on his behalf at the convention but which he did not mention in his speech. is he deciding to open up more to the american people? >> i'll tell you, what this election comes down to, andrea, it's not necessarily going to be the debates alone or the advertising that you see in the final weeks or even the visits to the battle ground states as important as they are, what people will be asking themselves when they go to vote is do we want another four years like the last four years. that is the broad messaging frame that we use when we talk about the economy certainly, or even the unraveling of the obama foreign policy around the world. and i think if the election is going to come down to the answer on that question, then i think mitt romney is going to win. >> eric, when you talked about the upcoming vice presidential debate and you made mention of the speech yesterday from governor romney where he talked

about defense cuts and his proposals, paul ryan voted for the sequester and cuts, how does paul ryan defend his original budget and medicare proposals in contrast to what governor romney is now proposing? >> well, what matters now is, what is governor romney's plan going forward and paul ryan has signed up for the romney plan. specifically with respect to the sequester, governor romney is opposed to it. in fact, when that was decided last summer governor romney issued a statement specifically mentions the prospect of some devastating cuts to our national defense budget should sequestration become necessary. so the governor has made it a priority to reverse the obama defense cuts. it's not just the $500 billion that will happen as a result of sequestratio sequestration, another $500 billion in the works. the president's defense secretary has said the

combination of the obama defense cuts with sequestration will be devastating to our military. it will further weaken our standings in the world and embolden our adversaries. >> what about benghazi? do you think that is a legitimate issue for this campaign? do you think the president should be held responsible for what happened in that terror attack? >> well of course. even the president would concede that he's accountable for everything that happens in his administration. look, what happened in libya in benghazi was a preplanned terrorist attack that was carried out on the anniversary of 9/11 that resulted in the assassination of an american ambassador and three other american civilians and what the administration told us in the aftermath of that attack against evidence to the contrary, against what the president of libya was telling the world is that this was in reaction to a youtube video. people need to be held accountable for what happened in

that respect and i think it's entirely appropriate for congress to be asking the tough questions and it's incumbent on the president and his team to answer those questions. >> is there one thing you would take back from the debate, the reference to big bird? >> well, look, you know, i think trivial pursuit was a board game. i didn't think it was a campaign strategy but the obama campaign is trying to prove me -- prove otherwise. we have some big problems, 23 million americans struggling for work, $16 trillion debt, emerging dangers in north africa and the middle east we spoke about, and the president's message of the day what he wants the american people to focus on is big bird? big bird is going to be fine. governor romney is more concerned about the jobs for the american people. as i said, 23 million of our fellow americans struggling for work. our focus is going to be on putting them back to work. >> good to see you.

thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you. >> up next the taxing question is a grand bargain possible in the lame-duck session? senator charles schumer joining us. still ahead the security request that went ignored in benghazi. what happened? this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. welcome aboard! [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference.

[ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

the first presidential debate made it clear that taxes are at the center the biggest issue probably between the two candidates senator schumer laid out how democrats plan to tackle the issue no matter who wins the white house and senator schumer joins me now. thank you very much. great to see you. we are at a priv votsal moment in this election not only for the presidency but the senate as

well. let me ask you about the latest polls because the pew poll now shows mitt romney ahead for the first time. these things could bounce around a little bit but certainly shows he has gained some advantage after that debate. >> well, i thought there was an interesting column by a fellow named nate silver 538 in "the new york times" plot s out how the elections have gone in the past. almost always when an incumbent president in the debate and a challenger does well which almost always happens the challenger goes up for a while in the polls but then goes back down. he think it would have much effect on the election and i tend to agree with him. >> that is if the candidate, if the president of the united states, comes back with a different game plan. what do you think he needs to do in the next debate he didn't do in the first debate? >> well, the bottom line is, i think that he is a fighter. i think he will come to the conclusion that he let romney get away with a little too much trying to be very presidential,

and i don't think you'll see the same thing in the next debate. >> let's talk about your tax proposals. because you are obviously -- going to have a lot to say about what happens in the senate assuming the senate stays democratic which is not necessarily a safe assumption depending on how the top of the ticket does as well. how do you lay this out? what tax approach do you think could be negotiated in the lame duck? >> you know, we've had deadlock for two years and it's been on the revenue side, not on the cutting side. we always seem to agree on various cuts to make, whether on the domestic discretionary programs like education or highways or on the entitlement programs, but we never seem to agree on revenues. i think one of the major stumbling blocks which i've pointed out people have bought on to the theory as part of deficit reduction we ought to lower the top rate on the highest income people. you lose a ton of revenue there and you can't make it up unless

you squeeze the middle class. so if you're going to start out by saying the first thing we do is lower the rate from say 35 to 28 as simpson-bowles does or 25 as ryan does it's virtually impossible do deficit reduction without hurting the middle class. my suggestion intended to break this deadlock, this gridlock we've had on getting a budget deal for the last year and a half, let's get off this thing that the first thing we do is say we're going to lower the top rate. in the presidential campaign, the president's campaigning on letting the rate on the highest income people go back to where it was in the clinton years, that makes sense. now some republicans are saying yeah, we may have to do that. that's the way to get a deal done. instead of the kind of gridlock we've had so far. >> now, one of the other issues is the fiscal cliff and the gang of eight meeting at mount vernon today. i know you're not one of the

eight, you're very plugged in, obviously, to what they're doing. do you think they're going to be able to reach an agreement after the election and avoid this fiscal cliff? >> we have lots of people who will work real hard on this, senator baucus on the finance committee done a lot of work on tax reform and other members are, but our best hope to get something done is the group of eight, all people well intentioned. and if they can overcome the deadlock we've had on revenues so far, i think we can get a deal. the suggestion i made today is aimed at them as well as everybody else, saying hey, if we want to get a real deal, the way to do it on revenues is take all -- certainly close all those loop holes that don't belong, but instead of using that money to reduce taxes on the wealthiest amongst us, use the money to reduce the deficit and we can get a deal. >> you know joe biden better than almost anyone, worked alongside him so many years in the senate.

what is your advice to him going into this debate in kentucky this week? >> be yourself, joe. joe biden is, you know, a genuine person, down to earth person, known him 30 years, he has great political instincts and i think one of the things that happens in these debates is if you overthink it, get overhandled and not yourself the public can see that. i would tell joseph biden be yourself. you're very good at this. >> thank you very much. chuck schumer, thanks for being with us. >> nice to be on your show. >> it's our pleasure. and up next, it's all about ohio and paul ryan the battle for the bluegrass state. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesn't treat that. huh? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! yes, you do! don't!

do! whoa, kitchen counselor here. see cascade complete pacs work like micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges. hmm! cascade. love it or your money back.

with a vial and syringe. me, explaining what i was doing at breakfast. and me discovering novolog mix 70/30 flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your pre-mix insulin. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. no vials, syringes or coolers to carry. flexpen is insulin delivery my way. novolog mix 70/30 is an insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within 15 minutes to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. most common side effects include reactions at the injection site, weight gain, swelling of your hands and feet, and vision changes. other serious side effects include low blood sugar and low potassium in your blood.

get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, sweating, or if you feel faint. i would have started flexpen sooner, but i thought it would cost more. turns out it's covered by my insurance plan. thanks to flexpen, vial and syringe are just a memory. ask your doctor about novolog mix 70/30 flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. find your co-pay at myflexpen.com. you have to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about saving big bird.

i actually think we need to have a president who talks about saving the american people and saving good jobs and saving our future. >> mitt romney in iowa. without carrying the buckeye state. both candidates will be there tonight and joining me now nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell, just back from ohio. you spent a couple days there on the ground talking to people. what is your assessment of the state? i would trust that more than the polls. >> i also grew up in ohio and have a feel for it. being on the ground in a battle groupds state this close in the election gives you a sense of how things might be changing. i was struck by a few things the number of people who brought up the last presidential debate to us unprompted, who said that made an impact on them for a couple reasons we've been hearing people talk about. they were surprised that romney seemed as comfortable and as confident. that sort of reinforced a

willingness to look at him. we also saw some obama supporters who felt more fired up. some of the democratic officials i talked to there said they felt there had been a lag in some of the energy they needed to repeat what they did in ohio four years ago but is catching on now in part because students are back in the college towns of ohio, they're getting excited and doing the door knocking, door to door. both parties are trying to bank as many votes in early voting and that's important because they keep track each day of who has voted, and then they try to put their money in resources in the people still lift on the list. >> and registration ending today? >> i think it was -- it's within a couple days now. but they were going door to door to get people to do the in person early voting, absentee ballots and try to have a personal connection. one of the things we were told again and again, people are tired by the phone calls, overwhelmed by the ads but meeting people on their door steps having a conversation about the race both parties feel they can turn someone or get them to go vote if they might

have been sort of apathetic about voting. >> there was a pew poll of the mid western states and in this poll, it was a 50 to 44, mitt romney over president obama. >> which is not been what we had been hearing. the auto industry is huge in ohio and the president had an advantage there talking about those issues. >> you have rob portman working with mitt romney, the senator, john case sick, the governor, has had his own problems with unions. >> they're looking for places where the president won in '08 but then those same voters in a county or precinct voted for john kasic in 2010, trends, ways to pick off voters who might be movable. the people most enthusiastic turning out they know where they're at. for republicans they see this as a potential. democrats feel strongly they can repeat. >> when people approach you, was it all the economy or did you find that some of the social issues, particularly among women, still had a lot of sway? >> there wasn't anyone who brought up the social issues to

me. we did hear about jobs, be we did hear about the personalities of the two candidates the president and romney. people wanting to get a sense of who they are. did hear a lot about voters who feel sort of disappointed about where the country is going. but also disappointed in not getting to know romney enough they said. there were a couple different people who said we still don't feel like we know him. a lot of the things you hear in the big picture politics were happening on the ground. what i was struck by people are paying attention, they are interested in it, even if they're tired of it and i think that's important because no one in ohio has not been besieged by phone calls and advertisements. you know what it's like. you're on the road. even in the hotel any time you turn on the tv that's all you see. >> kelly o'donnell, great you're home but i love your -- >> i loved being on the road there. it was interesting. >> thank you so much. and with polls showing this volatile campaign up and down after the first presidential debate the next game changing moment, of course, thursday's vice presidential matchup in kentucky. here's paul ryan discussing in a

radio interview what he expects from the president. -- vice president. >> i really think that, you know, because they had such a bad debate, that joe is going to come flying at us. and it seems pretty clear that their new strategy is basically just call us liars. to descend down into a mud pit and enough mud slinging back and forth and distortion, people will get demoralized and win by default. >> ron mot on the ground in saint petersburg, florida, where paul ryan is deep in debate prep. thanks for checking in from debate camp. he's practicing with the former solicitor general ted olsen and what are you hearing in terms of the strategy? >> well, hey there, andrea. the campaign is not giving a lot of details about the strategy for obvious reasons. suffice it to say his debate partner ted olsen is a skilled litigator argued cases before the supreme court, has been with

paul ryan over the past four days at the debate camp in virginia. they reportedly held one of their mock debates at an indoor tennis court so they were bouncing back and forth quite literally. what he's doing in florida to public events. only presume they wanted to come to florida to help him relax a little bit. he went to a pumpkin patch with his kids over the weekend. all week he seems very upbeat, relaxed for this big moment, 90 minutes on the stage against joe biden. what's interesting about the clip you showed there, may be reverse psychology at play are he says he expects the vice president to come at him with all wings flying if you will. he used the word cannonball to describe him in another interview. perhaps if vice president biden tones that down maybe he's cast off more like president obama was in denver. there's a lot of gamesmanship going on, interesting on thursday night and typically, you know, these vice presidential debates are maybe good for a zinger or two but this seems to have more

magnitudes than the ones in the past. >> it certainly does. look forward to seeing you, heading down to kentucky and see you there. >> we'll see you there. >> and up next, missed warnings in libya? congressman just back from this fact-findi ining trip to bengha. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership.

the house oversight committee is investigating whether the administration overlooked critical warnings before the terrorist attack in benghazi on september 11th that killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. congressman jason chaffetz chairs the house subcommittee on national security and has returned from a fact-finding mission in benghazi. thank you, congressman, very good to see you. first, i wanted to share something with you because governor romney just at a campaign appearance in iowa shared a story of having met one of the navy s.e.a.l.s., since he

refers to it to him as a massachusetts resident, massachusetts native, we think that he's talking about glen doherty, let me play them. >> one of them was a guy from my home state of massachusetts and relatively young guy compared to me and he was a former navy s.e.a.l. living in san diego and learned about him, talked about his life, he skied a lot, in some of the places i had and we had a lot of things in common, he told me that he keeps going back to the middle east, he cares very deeply about the people there. he served in the military there. went back from time to time to offer security services and so forth to people there. you can imagine how i felt when i found out that he was one of the two former navy s.e.a.l.s. killed in benghazi on september 11th and it -- it touched me, obviously, as i recognized this young man that i thought was so impressive had lost his life in the service of his fellow men and women.

>> now, glen doherty from massachusetts was one of the two navy s.e.a.l.s. did you get to benghazi? were you able to talk to people and witnesses and find out what really happened there? >> thanks for having me on the show. no, i was not able to get to benghazi. it's still the volatile situation, too volatile, couldn't get there. i was in tripoli at the u.s. embassy for most of the day on saturday. >> what did you learn? how does that inform the hearing that you're going to hold with darrell issa tomorrow? >> you know, first thing we did, i got a little emotional. i expressed my -- how thankful i was that we were -- for their service to this nation. they had lost four colleagues had been killed, ambassador had been killed, but then i toured the facility, got a briefing, got an understanding. what i was struck with is i left with the impression that

security wasn't dictating security but that politics were dictating security. for instance, i was there most all the day, never once did a single person mention a video, like it was not a factor. and it's -- it's -- what the administration was saying in the reality of what i heard on the ground were two different things. >> the administration had come to the conclusion that it was terrorist terrorism, they got it wrong in initially but what about the key question whether they overlooked security concerns, intelligence warnings? did anyone share with you the allegations that more security was requested by the late ambassador chris stevens and that was denied? >> that is clearly what i think we will hear tomorrow from two of the professionals that were there on the ground. you got to remember, in benghazi, you look at a map, tripoli, about two hours by air to the east is benghazi. twice in the six month lead up to 9/11, the british ambassador

had assassination attempts. twice in the six-month leadup you had bombings at our compound there in benghazi and it's 9/11 in libya. what other warnings do you need? that seems like a clear and present danger unto itself. if you can't add that up as a potential security threat, my goodness, all the signs were there. there was a request for more personnel. that was denied. they reduced the number of personnel. they asked for building up of the infrastructure, that was denied. there were waivers that clearly were put in place. even still today, in tripoli, you don't meet the basics of what needs to happen at an embassy. >> we've got one of the e-mails that you're going to be examining tomorrow and presenting tomorrow and it was the e-mail from six months earlier requesting more security and that was granted according to the state department, but then a second team was sent in and according to the witness, you refer to colonel wood, according to reports from colonel wood, more was requested, further extension was

requested by chris stevens, the ambassador, and that was denied. have you been told that? >> yes, i have. and we're talking about, you know, we're talking about in the neighborhood of two dozen people or less. let's remember that president obama has essentially a private army in iraq of 15,000, 15,000 security personnel there at the embassy in baghdad and the surrounding area and we're talking about, you know, half dozen here, another half dozen there in libya, after revolution, after two bombings, on our facilities, assassination attempts of the british ambassador. they're asking for a handful of more people and that was denied. they ended up getting less people than they originally had to start. >> some other people have said that chris stevens had perhaps an unrealistic expectation about benghazi because he spent so much time there during the war, he knew how well liked he was by many of the people and perhaps he wasn't cautious enough about

the threat from the militia? now that he's perished, i think of him in a fond way. he was part of a security apparatus asking for more help but didn't get more help. he said i'm going to do my job anyway, go into a difficult situation, so i walk out of there with more admiration for him not less. maybe perhaps other signs were ignored, but i think it's the responsibility of this state department to provide had him the resources so he can do his job. he didn't get those resources but he did his job anyway and had four americans killed. >> the state department's response is that if they had more security in tripoli, it would not have helped in benghazi, and that the libyans were building up and this logical transition to a libyan security force. can you respond to that? >> i think clearly the political objective from the obama white house and the state department was they wanted to quote/unquote reach apparent normalization and

i say that in quotes normalization as swiftly as possible and that meant hire as many libyans as you can. there's not a rent a cop around the corn. they barely have an government let alone to train people to provide the security needed in benghazi and tripoli. you have to look at the country as a whole but i mean look at the result, the consequences. an active al qaeda, other terrorists that are active and we have four dead americans at a compound that as a member of congress i can't visit. the fbi had trouble getting in there to visit it. so that's -- it's still a problem. >> jason chaffetz, going to be an interesting hearing tomorrow, thank you very much for previewing it today. >> up next, sentencing day for jerry sandusky. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. getting the right amount of sleep not only improving your mood, enhances learning, memory

and health. daily exercise can help you get a better night's rest. for the average adult doctors recommend getting seven hours of sleep. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. and topping the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports" today, convicted child molester former penn state football coach jerry sandusky has been sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. he was found guilty in june of 45 counts of child abuse. the judge told sandusky that as

a 68-year-old man making the prison term essentially a life sentence his intention, 30 to 60 years. the former president of the maldives has denied charges that he illegally detained a judge while in office. he was he was arrested yesterday after he ignored a court summons and defied an order prohibiting him from leaving the country. he resigned from office earlier in year when it led to public protests. a taliban gunman shot a 14-year-old pakistani girl known for her activism on the schooling of girls. this happened when she was waiting for the bus to take her home from school. her doctors say that the wounds are not life-threatening. this year's nobel prize in physics has been awarded two researchers for their work in quantum physics. they share the $1.2 million prize that could result in fast

computers and light based clocks more accurate than atomic clocks. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours is next right here on "andrea mitchell reports."

so which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris is back with us. we're looking for ohio. that's ground central for the campaign. you have chris christie going out with with mitt romney. he said it would be a completely different campaign after the first debate. >> right. chris ychristie, who knew he would be the fortune teller. he was right. no secret, andrea. we've talked about it and continue to talk about. ohio is currently leaning towards barack obama. mitt romney has to win ohio to have a map you can believe he can get to 270. there are ways to add 270 electoral votes without ohio for romney, but none of them are that plausible. with ohio he's much more in the

game. they need to turn it. my guess is he'll get a little bump from the debate performance. they try it to build that momentum. chris christie is a popular figure to be out there with mitt romney. you cannot overemphasize how important ohio is to mitt romney in 28 days. >> we should point out that the supreme court hears an important affirm active action case from texas. this is the first big test since the michigan ruling which sandra day o'connor that led to continued affirmative action, something universities across the country believe is important for the education of all of their undergraduates. the arguments are tomorrow. pete williams will be there. thank you very much. that does if for you for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tad divine will preview the vice presidential debate. mike kchael lighter about the b

hearings on the benghazi attack. follow it online and on twitter at @andreamitchellreports. >> ed rendell and "the daily beast" michael tomaski are among the guests ready to leap into the latest conversation about the new pugh poll that shows a change in the tide in this race and aa big shift with women voters. plus from ann romney and one of her sons reportedly staining a rebellion against her husband's advisers to andrew sullivan. there's nervous energy on both sides with 28 days to go. nnounc] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations,

where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.

call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about. and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. there's a range of plans to choose from, too. and they all travel with you. anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. call today. remember, medicare supplement insurance helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay -- expenses that could really add up.

these kinds of plans could save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs... you'll be able choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. and you never need referrals. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. hi,